Hardik Pandya lashes out at Markande who dropped a sitter

The Mumbai Indians managed a hard-fought victory by 13 runs in a must-win game against Kolkata Knight Riders. In a must-win situation to continue in their battle for a place in the playoffs, Mumbai restricted the KKR batsmen to 168. In their chase, KKR needed 23 runs off the last over but they managed to score just nine runs.

Earlier, MI were asked to bat first by Dinesh Karthik, captain of the Knight Riders. With the openers Suryakumar Yadav and Evin Lewis providing a decent start, the home team was in a good position halfway through their innings. However, Andre Russell sent back both the openers. Rohit Sharma also failed to add a lot to their score. On the back of Hardik Pandya’s cameo at the end, the team posted 181.

Chasing the target, the visitors lost both their openers early. Robin Uthappa and Nitish Rana built a good partnership and that was a huge threat for Sharma and his boys. However, the young leggie – Mayank Markande did the trick for Rohit. He dismissed Uthappa in the 13th over. Following Uthappa’s wicket, Hardik’s bouncer sent Rana back to the pavilion. Soon things started to slip from the Knight Riders, especially with the MI bowlers – Hardik and Bumrah bowling very well.

The dropped chance that cost them 50 runs

It was the sixth over and Uthappa and Rana were just starting to settle down. The Karnataka batsman who had just faced five balls was on strike and Hardik was the bowler. Robin mistimed his stroke on a short ball and the ball quickly flew towards the youngster – Markande. He was standing at mid-on and was a sitter, unfortunate for the Mumbai, the ball popped out of his palm.

Considering the value of the wicket, Hardik couldn’t control his emotions. He lost his cool as Mayank dropped a pretty easy catch. Uthappa went on to score a half-century but was dismissed by the youngster himself. The leg-spinner got him out, which was indeed a turning point for the Mumbai Indians.

Here is the video:

Mayank's dolly drop, life for Robbie https://t.co/iJm7bXmT8x via @ipl

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